Newbie question on large room recording set-up

[shamajacob]

Hello, I'm very new in the audio field. We have a large room that is used for conferences, etc, and we're looking to upgrade from a cassette recording/manual mixing set-up to a PC based firewire/usb recording set-up (16 mic inputs). I would also like to get software that will automatically mix the microphones, depending on the sound at each mic. I've been looking at the MOTU 8PRE, but I'm sure there are many other options. I've looked at some Automatic Microphone Mixers, but they are quite expensive, especially if you have to daisy-chain 2 units to have 16 mic inputs.

Does anyone have any thoughts or ideas that could give me a steer in the right direction?

Many thanks

[bkshepard]

There are a number of products and devices designed for exactly that purpose. You should consult with a specialist in conference room audio design. Recording programs and audio interfaces like the ones from MOTU and other audio recording companies are really designed to be "monitored" while they are being used. My experience with conference rooms is that nobody in the company ends up being qualified and/or interested enough to do that and you get people frustrated with the equipment. For a conference room, an automatic mixer and recording system that is literally "set and forget" is the way to go. Good luck.